Types of Textiles
(Contd. from page 1...)
Woven fabrics are made of two sets of yarns - a lengthwise set called the warp and a crosswise set called the filling or weft. The warp yarns are threaded into a loom through a series of frames called harnesses. During the cloth-making process, the harnesses raise some warp yarns and lower others. This action creates a space, or shed, between the yarns. A device called a shuttle carries the filling through the shed and so forms the crosswise yarns of the fabric. The pattern in which the harnesses are raised and lowered for each pass of the shuttle determines the kind of weave.
Knitted fabrics are made from a single yarn or a set of yarns. In making cloth, a knitting machine forms loops in the yarn and links them to one another by means of needles. The finished fabric consists of crosswise rows of loops, called courses, and lengthwise rows of loops, called wales. This looped structure makes knitted fabrics more elastic than woven cloth. Garment manufacturers use knitted fabrics in producing comfortable, lightweight clothing that resists wrinkling.
Other fabrics include tufted fabrics, nets and laces, braids, and felt. None of these fabrics is woven or knitted. However, the textile industry produces another class of fabrics specifically called nonwoven fabrics.
Cotton
Cotton is a soft white fibrous substance covering seeds of certain plants.
History of the use of cotton:
Asiatic cottons first grew wild in East Africa. About 5000 years ago, the people in what is now Pakistan cultivated cotton. The army of Alexander the Great first brought cotton goods into Europe in the 300s B.C. but the cloth was too expensive and only the rich could afford it.
The English began to weave cotton in the 1600s. They imported raw cotton from other countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Later, they imported cotton from southern colonies in America.
In the 1700s, English textile manufacturers developed machines that made it possible to spin thread and weave cloth into large quantities. Today, the United States, Russia, China and India are major producers of cotton.
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